Taiwan calls for cross-strait negotiations without prerequisites

2018/04/27 20:27:22

Taipei, April 27 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) called for cross-Taiwan Strait talks without prerequisites in a statement issued Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1993 Koo-Wang Talks.

The MAC, the top government agency in charge of China policy, urged Beijing to uphold the principles of setting aside differences and seeking to resolve differences through negotiations in a pragmatic manner in dealing with cross-strait issues.

"Peace and communications are key factors for achieving the ideal of mutual benefits and co-prosperity for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait," it said in the statement.

The council criticized Beijing's recent moves to intensify its political and military pressure on Taiwan while launching a series of economic measures to lure Taiwanese people, saying the measures were not workable and that Taiwan would not bow to the pressure designed to force Taipei into accepting Beijing' political framework.

Relations between Taiwan and China have been at a standstill since Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party took over as president in May 2016.

Beijing has cut off official contacts because of the Tsai administration's refusal to accept the "1992 consensus," which underpinned cross-strait relations during the administration of Tsai's predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), from 2008 to 2016.

The DPP does not accept that the consensus ever existed and rejects it because it implies that Taiwan is a part of China.

Despite the stalemate, the government has cherished and tried to maintain the achievements made in cross-strait negotiations and exchanges over the past 30 years, but the development of cross-strait ties cannot be undertaken unilaterally, the MAC said.

Taiwan will continue to do its best to maintain the cross-strait status quo as well as peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, the MAC said.

In the process of cross-strait exchanges, the government is determined to defend the Republic of China's sovereignty, Taiwan's dignity and the rights of 23 million Taiwanese people to freely choose their country's future, it said.

The 1993 Koo-Wang Talks refer to a meeting between Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), late chairman of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), and Wang Daohan, late head of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), in Singapore in April that year.

It was the first public meeting between the heads of authorized nongovernmental organizations of Taiwan and China.

Four agreements were signed to promote cross-strait trade and people-to-people exchanges during the meeting, setting foundations for future bilateral exchanges.